“Viv!”
Rolling pin lady shrugged. “I’m going to finish baking. I thought the big battle was going to take longer and now I’m in the middle of two pies and a batch of cupcakes.”
“Cupcakes?” Pip asked hopefully.
“Cutiepie, you can have whatever you want. You just ask Auntie Viv okay?”
“Auntie Viv?” Draco asked.
“Shut it, big guy. I’m trying not to scare him, unlike some people.”
Pip didn’t want to tell her that he didn’t really scare all that easily. Startle, yes. But that wasn’t something he could control.
“Could I maybe borrow your phone so I can call my family? I’ve been gone a while and—”
The one with the broom began to coo at him and before Pip knew what was happening he was in the kitchen on a bar stool with a giant sandwich and a milkshake on the counter in front of him. He also had a phone in his hand, which was shaking slightly as he tried to dial his mom’s number.
“It’s okay,” Sawyer said. “You’re safe now.”
Sawyer pretty much hadn’t left his side. Pip liked him. He was really nice. And cute. But mostly nice. Pip sighed and looked up into Sawyer’s pretty brown eyes.
“My mom’s going to lose her mind.”
“Probably so, but you better go ahead and not make her wait another minute.”
Pip dialed the number and wasn’t all that surprised when his mom answered with a snarl. She didn’t recognize the number so she was ready to chew out a telemarketer. It was one of her favorite hobbies. “Hey, Momma.”
“Pipsqueak? Is that you?”
“It’s me.”
His mom screamed, and then he heard a thud. His mom had fainted.
Pip looked at Sawyer and sighed. “I probably should have called my brother first.”
Sawyer
Sawyer had never been more thankful to have friends in high places. He put in a call to Solomon, the alpha of the hellhounds, while Pip called his brother, Ezra. In another of those small world coincidences, Ezra and Solomon already knew each other. Ezra had helped the hellhounds when their bar had been attacked by aswangs. Pip’s brother had been assisting the hellhounds since then, serving as one of the additional champions they’d called in due to all the massive changes happening in the world. Ezra and Solomon retrieved Pip’s mom and brought her through a portal to see her son. Apparently, Pip had been missing for months, and they’d all feared the worst.
She fainted again when she saw him for herself. Luckily, she fell conveniently into Solomon’s arms. Pip’s brother, on the other hand, pulled Pip into the kind of hug Sawyer knew well. It was the same kind Nick gave him when he had a lot of emotions tangled up and didn’t have the words to use them. And speaking of Nick…
Sawyer grabbed his phone and sent his brother a text. They needed to plan. Even though Sawyer had every intention of finding his guide, he really hadn’t thought his brother would be stupid enough to have his final guardian and guide both together. But his tiger had been there, and Sawyer had felt the connection between them almost from the beginning. This amazingly beautiful creature was connected to him and the powers he was beginning to feel once more. He’d been terrified of the giant white tiger at the very beginning, and he wasn’t afraid to admit it. Getting tackled by a dangerous animal would do that to a guy. But Byakko had been waiting for him for a long time, and Sawyer knew he’d found one more piece to the puzzle.
The problem was he’d cut his brother off at the knees, and it was going to piss Palinouros off royally. They’d taken the kids from him so he couldn’t use them to up his power anymore. And now Sawyer had taken his ace in the hole, both his final guardian and his guide. With the amount of resources his brother had protecting the two of them, he’d probably not been worried at all. Between the magic and the guards, now all destroyed because of Sawyer and his mates, his brother would want revenge. They needed to brace for attack.
Nick and Jedrek arrived about the time Pip’s mom began recovering from her faint. Nick carried a little girl with wings in his arms. Robin rarely left his brother’s side anymore, and Sawyer had a sneaking suspicion they’d added a new member to their family.
“She wouldn’t let me go,” Nick said gruffly instead of saying hello like a normal person.
“Like I care,” Sawyer said.
“Yeah, well, she’s asleep so tell your mates not to yell or anything.”
Jedrek elbowed Nick in the side. “Ignore him. She’s fine. What’s going on?”
Nick hadn’t noticed the giant white tiger in the corner of the room.
Jedrek had.
